Heidelberg has named Jurgen Otto as its new CEO following Ludwin Monz’s decision to step down at the end of June.
Otto becomes the fourth CEO in a dozen years following in the footsteps of Monz, Rainer Hundsdörfer, and Gerold Linzbach. Linzbach had taken over from Bernhard Schreier who had been CEO for 13 years.
Each has struggled to find the formula to return Heidelberg to sustained profitability, growing sales and reducing overheads. The share price has remained in the doldrums, causing Hundsdörfer to reflect in 2020 that “Investors do not trust us yet”.
Otto joins Heidelberg from fashion retailer S Oliver, where he became CEO in January 2023, announcing his departure in March this year. Prior to that he worked for three businesses for a short duration including Dräxlmaier. Before that he had worked for automotive supplier Brose as CEO for 12 years. Dräxlmaier produces battery power systems for electrical vehicles, so has affinity for Heidelberg’s development of emobility battery chargers.
The speed of the announcement of his appointment suggests that Monz told the supervisory board of his decision to leave some months ago. “We very much regret Dr Ludwin Monz’s decision to leave Heidelberg,” says supervisory board chairman Dr Martin Sonnenschein. “He has decisively advanced our company strategically and operationally and thus strengthened our foundation in a difficult market environment.
“With Jurgen Otto we are gaining a proven leader.” And he continues with an outline of the task ahead and how the new CEO will be assessed: “With his experience and network we will continue to consistently prepare Heidelberg for the future, increase profitability and further strengthen our significant technology expertise in the printing and packaging industry and beyond.”
Monz is an intensely shy man, something that was known on his appointment and which was clear at the recent presentations to the media ahead of Drupa. At the time he knew he would not be leading the business after the show. He revealed plans to show the 21,000sph version of the XL106 for carton printing, but did not talk about which commercial press would be shown, nor about plans for any digital print technology. He identified packaging and the digital printing segment as the two opportunities for Heidelberg to expand into to.
Heidelberg had shown Primefire 106 as a B1 inkjet press at Drupa 2016, but later cancelled the project. “The market was not ready for it,” he says, “or it was too expensive for the market.” The opportunity for digital printing lies with commercial printers and the ongoing relationship with Ricoh, which was signed by Schreier. “This will expand into inkjet,” said Monz. That leaves the digital print question hanging.
Otto will head an enlarged board of three as David Schmedding, who joined Heidelberg in 2018, becomes full board member responsible for sales alongside the CEO and CFO Tania von her Goltz. The new board takes charge on 1 July.
Otto says: “Heidelberg is an icon of German industry with product quality and service expertise that is appreciated worldwide. I am looking forward to becoming part of Heidelberg and working together with the management team around Tania von her Golz and David Schmedding as well as all employees of a successful future for the company.”
On Friday, Heidelberg’s shares were valued at €0.93.
